Magic on the Dead Chapter 119

The group stood there for a long time, rooted to the spot as if they had seen an apparition. The airplane, with the Taegeuk mark painted on it, was clearly a South Korean flag carrier, and it was flying at a not-so-high altitude.

As they absentmindedly moved their heads, following the trajectory of the contrail, they were abruptly brought back to their senses by Pie’s whining. The zombies that had been below the road were stealthily creeping towards them.

“Everyone, grab your gear.”

At Eden’s command, everyone hurriedly shouldered their bags. Jeffrey, folding the open umbrella, panted as if excited.

【That was definitely a plane, right? It doesn’t seem like it’s heading towards Incheon. The direction is totally this way.】

“That’s right. But there’s no airport in Yongun City.”

As Hajin chimed in, Eden, who was walking ahead, turned his head and answered.

“You never know. It might have just taken off from Seoul Air Base, which is used as an Air Force base, or if not that….”

“It could be on its way to the maintenance depot.”

Hajin quickly finished his sentence. A short silence followed. Whatever it was, it was certain that there was a plane currently in the skies of South Korea, and that the plane had entered Yongun City.

A strange excitement flickered across everyone’s faces. It was an excitement that mixed the hope that there might still be a chance left in this land with the anxiety of not being able to predict what lay even one step ahead.

Suddenly, Hajin recalled the screams of the man they had encountered at the church.

‘You people know it too! If we don’t even resort to robbery, we’ll all die like this! We can’t even get on a plane, so we have to survive like this, what other choice do we have!’

“At the church earlier. A man was talking about a plane, he couldn’t have been talking about that one, could he?”

“I don’t know. They were a bunch who just spouted nonsense.”

【Hey, hey, zombies are coming up from down there!】

Jeffrey’s shout marked the beginning of another chase. Eden pushed through the rough undergrowth, but his mind was ceaselessly thinking about the maintenance depot and the airplane.

At the maintenance depot, a total of three stealth aircraft and several transport helicopters were stored for inspection. The transport planes could only be repaired by the technical engineers brought from ‘Blueworx’ corporation, and as far as Eden knew, none of them held a pilot’s license. Of course, Jeffrey and himself were exceptions.

Therefore, as long as everything had not been burned down, the transport planes would be safe. It was with this certainty that Eden had made the offer to Hajin to go to Neverland together. Even if an passenger plane of unknown purpose were to briefly use the maintenance depot’s runway, nothing would change.

“……”

But sometimes, there exists a realm of instinct that easily demolishes all logical calculations. What people commonly call a ‘hunch’. Eden’s gut feeling was currently flowing in a bad direction.

Who on earth was this large passenger plane coming to pick up, and where were all those countless vehicles, recklessly tangled on the road, heading?

Just then, Hajin, who was stomping his feet beside Eden, suddenly called out to him.

“Mr. Jung Taegeon.”

Eden, who had been lost in thought for a moment, turned his head to Hajin, crushing the head of a zombie trying to grab his ankle with a crunch.

“No matter what happens, keep the promise you made with me.”

His gaze met with round eyes that were trembling 불안하게.

“I said keep your promise. If there aren’t enough transport planes, you leave with Jeffrey and Byeol, understand?”

Eden’s shoulder was gripped by a firm hand. Hajin’s face was set hard, as if he had no intention of letting go until he received a definite answer.

Eden frowned and grabbed the hand holding his shoulder to pull it down.

“That won’t happen.”

Hajin’s face twisted ambiguously. It was a sentence ripe for misunderstanding, whether it meant there would be no shortage of transport planes, or that there would be no keeping of the promise. Just as the flustered Hajin was about to say something more,

a zombie with a crushed abdomen and a dangling eyeball rushed towards him. Biting his lip, Hajin swung his hand with all his might. The anxiety that had been floating in his head was instantly extinguished by his aching arm muscles and his parched throat.

Around the time the number of zombies blocking their path and rushing at them began to dwindle, a defensive wall made of orange sacks piled high came into view far ahead in front of a tunnel. The group paused their steps for a moment at the unexpected sight.

Three tanks stood guard there, exuding a solemn dignity, and in front of them were piled heaps of corpses, dead and covered in blood, with their intestines and heads burst open.

But there was no sign of the soldiers who should have been guarding the tanks anywhere.

Hajin carefully examined the face of the corpse at the very bottom of the pile. The eyes of the corpse, which had died with its eyes open, had the grayish tint characteristic of a zombie.

“What is all this?”

As Hajin muttered blankly, Eden took the lead and walked to the barrier. He climbed onto the fence and looked inside the tunnel, but saw no unusual signs. After sharply scanning the area for a while, he turned back to the group and said.

“There are no signs of the barrier being breached, and the inside of the tunnel is clean. It doesn’t look like a retreat, it’s definitely an order to withdraw.”

“Why would they have withdrawn? Of course, the number of zombies has decreased since the tollgate, but it’s not like they’ve been completely annihilated.”

“Whatever it is, it must mean there’s no longer a need to defend this place. I suspect it’s probably related to the airplane we saw earlier.”

The group climbed over the fence set up next to the orange sacks and walked with heavy steps into the dark tunnel. Hajin swallowed nervously, gulp, his eyes taking in the military cap and broken firearm on the ground, and the emaciated corpse that had died with its nose buried in filth.

Apart from a water deer suddenly popping out and getting Pie excited, nothing much happened as they passed through the tunnel. However, upon passing through the long tunnel and emerging into the bright, sunlit outside, another unexpected scene unfolded before their eyes.

On the road, which they had expected to be occupied by zombies, large groups of refugees were sitting together. With grimy, dirty faces, they all looked at Eden’s group walking out of the tunnel exit with wary eyes.

“Uncle….”

A small hand tightly gripped the hem of Hajin’s shirt. Hajin looked down and studied the face of Byeol, who was pressed close against his body. The child, who rarely showed fear even in spaces teeming with zombies, was completely intimidated by the fierce stares of the people looking their way, his shoulders trembling slightly.

He lifted Byeol into his arms as if to soothe him and looked around.

“I don’t see any zombies, just a lot of people.”

He whispered to Eden who was standing next to him, and Eden pulled Hajin’s shoulder closer to his side.

“Don’t stray, stick as close as possible.”

【Pie! Don’t go too far. Come here!】

Jeffrey whistled to call back Pie, who was running ahead. At the same time, an old man who had been lying in a corner of the road shot up and reached out for Pie. The startled Pie yelped and ran back into the arms of the group.

The old man, angry about something, started crawling on the ground and raging.

“Come here! Come here, you son of a bitch! Come here!”

Jeffrey, looking as if he’d just seen the craziest person ever, lifted the weapon in his hand onto his shoulder and glared at the old man. Eden grabbed Jeffrey’s arm and shook his head.

【Just ignore him. He probably thought it was a stray dog.】

【What? If it’s a stray dog, is it okay to treat it so carelessly? Who does that crazy old man think he’s cussing at?】

【He’s angry because he tried to catch and eat it and failed. This isn’t a world where common sense applies.】

Just then, feeling a gaze from somewhere, Hajin stealthily turned his head. His eyes landed on a small green car. His gaze met directly with the woman sitting in the driver’s seat.

The woman, her hair a complete mess, was looking at Hajin with unfocused eyes. For a moment he thought she might be a zombie and was about to look away, when she revealed her blackened teeth and grinned widely.

Looking closely, there was a black lump of some kind in her arms. The woman, as if pleased with Hajin’s gaze upon her, pressed her forehead against the driver’s side window and began to mutter something. Soon, she lifted the lump she was holding clumsily in her arms up to her chest.

‘…A baby?’

Shock descended upon Hajin’s face as he identified the black thing. The woman, who had been smiling brightly while holding the small, emaciated lump that was nothing but skin and bones, muttered something more at him as he moved away. Then, when Hajin did not stop walking, she started pounding on the window, bang bang, her entire face contorting as if she were shouting.

As expected, her shouts could not be heard. Hajin, trying his best to calm his pounding heart, managed to tear his eyes away from the woman with difficulty.